Resilient contact for connecting two parts of a device

ABSTRACT

The present invention is related to a resilient contact including a lower clamp and an upper spring arm reversely bent in opposite directions. The lower clamp can be clamped onto the upper plate of the front panel of a hard disk rack. The upper resilient arm withstands a front panel of a hard disk rack. Thus, the present invention is suitable for different size gaps to achieve the goals of electromagnetic conduction, heat conduction, support, etc.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a resilient contact for connecting twoparts of a device and more particularly, to such a resilient contact,which is applied on structural arrangement of a main server.

2. Description of Related Art

As technology progresses, computers are utilized more frequently thanever; as a result, stable operation and convenient facilitation ofassembling computer hardware has been developed into an important skillnowadays, particularly in dealing with the gaps among multipler emovablehard disk racks and the gaps between racks and their associated outercase. Any potential improvement on the resilient contact thus takes intoaccount how to achieve a stabilizing support that is at the same timeable to prevent any electromagnetic waves, and efficiently dissipateheat to assure a consistent performance of the computer.

Nonetheless, conventional resilient contacts are more than oftenincapable of providing flexibility in adjusting the height of the springarm or the elastic strength thereof to achieve an elastic contact at aproper level, and are constrained to the confined gap between racks orthe gap between racks and the outer case. Removable hard disk racks thatutilize convention resilient contacts, therefore, are rather difficultto insert into the slots or it is difficult to observe whether thespring arms of the resilient contacts have effectively made contact.Also, the width of those plate structures observed on conventionalspring contacts are, most of the time, either too wide or too narrow forthe size of the surface of the hard disk racks' front panels intended tobe located on, causing unnecessary interference with other peripheralparts during assembling and resulting in failure to stabilize the frontpanel.

The present invention, on the other hand, is proposed to provide aresolution which allows easier assembly such that the plate structuresof the spring contact can stably be attached onto the front panel of thehard disk rack without hindering other parts.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been accomplished under the circumstances inview. A resilient contact in accordance with the present inventioncomprises a plate structure, in which a lower clamp is mountedrespectively on and extended from two front ends of the said platestructure. Each of the lower clamps is bent reversely adjacent to theplate structure to construct a small clamp opening, wherein said smallclamp opening is received in between said lower clamp and said platestructure. An upper spring arm is also mounted on and extended from thecentral segment of the front end of the plate structure, in which theupper spring arm comprises a first bend, a reverse bow, and a secondbend. The first bend is connected to the front end of the platestructure, curving upward to form a first height; the reverse bow isconnected between the first bend and the second bend, shaping the secondbend curving upward to form a second height, wherein the altitude of thefirst height is less than that of the said second height, and the tailend of the said second bend is downwardly and reversely arched.

Therefore, the resilient contact of the present invention can utilizethe lower clamps and upper spring arms that are reversely bent inopposite directions to attach to removable hard disk racks in order toachieve electromagnetic conduction, heat conduction, and stabilizationpurposes. In addition, given that the upper spring arm of the presentinvention includes the first and second bend that provide differentelevations, the present invention can be applied on a variety of gapsizes in between removable hard disk racks.

The plate structure of the present invention further comprises a sagpiece, which can extend within the dimension of the small clamp openingthereof. The purpose of the sag piece is to insert into thecorresponding slot on the upper plate of the removable hard disk devicesuch that they are properly positioned and securely fastened. The platestructure can further comprise a cut-through slot, on the margin ofwhich at least one of the abovementioned sag pieces is mounted,extending downward and preferably forward to construct a hook for aneven more secure lock against the upper plate of the removable hard diskdevice.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a drawing showing the preferred embodiment of the assemblywithin a mainframe server according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a drawing showing the preferred embodiment of the assembly ona removable hard disk rack according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of a removable hard disk rack forillustrating the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a resilient contact of the preferredembodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a side elevation view of a resilient contact of the preferredembodiment according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, a resilient contact 2 according to thepreferred embodiment of the present invention is first assembled on aremovable hard disk rack 4, and multiple removable hard disk racks 4 arethen individually inserted into a mainframe server A, forming an arrayof hard disk drives. A gap H is defined between the removable hard diskracks as shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 further reveal the resilient contact 2 of the presentinvention is clamped onto an upper plate 44 of a front panel 43 of thehard disk rack 4.

Referring to FIG. 4, the resilient contact 2 of the present invention iscomprised of a plate structure 20, wherein a lower clamp 22 is mountedrespectively on and extended from each of two front ends of the platestructure. Each lower clamp 22 is bent reversely adjacent to the bottomsurface of the plate structure 20, thus forming a small clamp opening220 in between the lower clamp 22 and the plate structure 20 forinserting ahead from the rear and clamping onto the abovementioned upperplate 44 margin of the front panel 43 of the hard disk rack 4.

Tail ends of the lower clamps 22 of the present invention are bothfurther bent downwardly to form a small opening 221 for smoothly guidingand clamping onto the upper plate 44 of the front panel 43 of the harddisk rack 4. The plate structure 20 has sag pieces 21 that extenddownwardly within the dimension of the small clamp opening 220 from themargin of a U-shaped cut-through slot 24. This embodiment in particularshapes the sag pieces to be extended forward to construct a hook suchthat the sag pieces can tightly insert into the corresponding slot 41(FIG. 3) on the upper plate 44 of removable hard disk rack 4 forpositioning, thus providing a secure stabilization.

Again referring to FIG. 4 and additionally FIG. 5, an upper spring arm23 is amounted on and extended from a central segment of a front end 201of the plate structure 20 according to the present invention, in whichthe upper spring arm 23 comprises a first bend 231, a reverse bow 233,and a second bend 232. The first bend 231 is directly connected to thefront end 201 of the plate structure 20 and curves upward to form afirst height h1. The reverse bow 233 is connected between the first bend231 and the second bend 232, shaping the second bend to curve upward toform a second height h2. This embodiment hereby utilizes the upperspring arm 23 in pressing upward against the hard disk rack 4 locatedatop, allowing electromagnetic or heat conduction whilst providing aproper force of support to the hard disk rack located above.

Referring to FIG. 5, the altitude of first height h1 of the upper springarm 23 is less than that of the second height h2 of the same accordingto this embodiment, implying that the first height h1, which locatesunderneath, is relatively slimmer and flatter, of which itscharacteristics will be favorable for clamping the resilient contact 2onto the hard disk rack 4 and easily slotting in the base of the otherhard disk rack 4 altogether. Moreover, given the sum of the first heighth1 and the second height h2 is greater than or equal to the gap H, thespring contact 2 can be assured to maintain a close contact within thegap H between two hard disk racks 4. Also a greater second height h2constructed by an upward curvature of the second bend 232 is able to beutilized between two hard disk racks 4 or between rack 4 and the outercase provided with a greater range of the gap size. Further, given thata tail end 234 of the second bend 232 is downwardly and reverselyarched, it allows the hard disk rack 4 located above to be guidedaccordingly without interfering with the rack 4 located underneathwhiling discharging it from the slot.

Although the present invention has been explained in relation to itspreferred embodiment, it is to be understood that many other possiblemodifications and variations can be made without departing from thescope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.

1. A resilient contact for connecting two parts of a device comprising aplate structure, to which a lower clamp is mounted respectively on andextended from each of two front ends of said plate structure, each saidlower clamp is bent reversely adjacent to said plate structure to form asmall clamp opening, wherein said small clamp opening is received inbetween said lower clamp and said plate structure, an upper spring armis also mounted on and extended from the central segment of the frontend of the plate structure; wherein said upper spring arm comprising afirst bend, a reverse bow, and a second bend; said first bend isconnected to said front end of said plate structure, curving upward toform a first height; said reverse bow is connected between said firstbend and said second bend, shaping said second bend to curve upward toform a second height, wherein said first height is less than said secondheight, a tail end of said second bend is downwardly and reverselycurved.
 2. The resilient contact for connecting two parts of a device asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the tail end of each said lower clamp isbent downwardly to form a small opening.
 3. The resilient contact forconnecting two parts of a device as claimed in claim 1, wherein saidplate structure further comprises at least one sag piece, extendingwithin the dimension of said small clamp opening.
 4. The resilientcontact for connecting two parts of a device as claimed in claim 3,wherein said plate structure further comprises a cut-through slot,through which said at least one sag piece extends downward from themargin of said cut-through slot.
 5. The resilient contact for connectingtwo parts of a device as claimed in claim 3, wherein said at least onesag piece extends forward.